That's what I'm saying (not necessarily about Reg). How do we really know these old guys are "natural". Skip, just because he doesn't or didn't use today, isn't really natural. I've been out of the circle for a few years but back in the late 90's, all one had to do to qualify as a "natural" was to be clean of gear for 2 years.

Because testosterone wasn't approved by the FDA for prescription by physicians until 1950. Before that it simply wasn't available to the public (or even physicians), and wasn't manufactured in anything other than limited quantities for experimental lab use only. The first anabolic steroid derivatives weren't available in the west until 1956-58. Even during most of the '50s, when it was technically available, almost nobody had a clue that it could improve lifting or athletic performance. Many prominent lifters and bodybuilders, whose careers spanned both eras before and after testosterone availability, didn't improve substantially after test became accessible for them, so they either weren't using it or it had no effect on them.

On the other hand, beginning around 1960 there was a clear increase in the performance of the American Weightlifting team. In addition, most of the high-level bodybuilders of that time suddenly were developing muscle mass and muscularity well above and beyond the athletes of the 1950s. Bill Pearl is an obvious example ...compare his development in the mid-50s to the early 1960s. By Pearl's own admission he began experimenting with Nilevar in 1956.

i was at the wnbf natrual worlds and ben the guy posted won the heavywieght class but lost the overall the level of development is really high and i think you guys would be impressed in person. there was another guy who took second in the heavywieght class was awsome he comes in about 5-7 190 diced i think he should have won his class but didnt.

If this is the same john Hansen? I remember him in 1979 at Moraine Vally Community College in a class were he did a paper on bodybuilding and at the end took off his shirt in front of the class and posed to the shock of the class, lol. He was maybe 18 or so.At that time he was not natural at all.

hansen2.jpg I don't see the point in the photo... suck in all the airinto your lungs to expand the chest area, but have no abdominal area to support the "sucken in" WTF... makes a poor photo and not impressive...

Prime, where's the post where John Hansen said he used gear? Inquiring minds want to know.

He did on the website Ironage and even posted some impressive pics.Look folks, steroids don't stay in your system and keep working for years after you stop useing them.If that were the case then all the IFBB pros would juice for a few years and the go off and keep making the same gains.If the drug is not in your system it can't help you any longer. That is like saying the food you ate last yr,will keep you nourished today

He did on the website Ironage and even posted some impressive pics.Look folks, steroids don't stay in your system and keep working for years after you stop useing them.If that were the case then all the IFBB pros would juice for a few years and the go off and keep making the same gains.If the drug is not in your system it can't help you any longer. That is like saying the food you ate last yr,will keep you nourished today

The muscle size and maturity will remain as long as you keep training and eating. You make no sense.

I'm having a hard time believing these are legit measurements. Nearly 19 inch arms!?

Scaled to current and past drug-free champion bodybuilders, Sandow could have weighed 202 pounds at 12.7% body fat. However, his measurements are almost all exaggerated (with the exceptions of possibly his chest and neck). Scaling his height and bone structure to more current champs, his stats would be:

You have to consider how the measurements were taken. Was his neck flexed? His forearm goosenecked? His chest when he inhaled and/or flexed? Was his thigh measurement taken at mid-thigh or up by the crotch? Like most showmen, Sandow probably just exaggerated for shock value.

Not necessary. Take Flex Wheeler for example. He always had a skinny neck.

I always thought the cannon ball shoulders was a giveaway, but now I can see by those turn of the century pics that those guys had shoulders that I would have said previously were developed by steroids, but obviously they weren't.

Looking at these pictures I just don't get why anyone would bother with steroids. These guys physiques are way better than what most gym rats would settle for, and they avoid all the extra costs, complications, side effects, screwing up natural hormone levels. I am not anti-steroid. I think they're just fine for elite level athletes who NEED an edge. But for everyone else fuck it! Just train hard and eat right.